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The Polochar Inn

UK Scotland Scottish Isles

11 Guest Rooms
Historic Hotel

Every so pretty spot and house, be aware you might never leave South Uist

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This is the sort of whitewashed, historic inn, set in an impossibly pretty spot, that bewitches people who’ve never even left Kansas before into booking a flight across an ocean. It is every bit as dramatic as the Scotland portrayed in Mel Gibson movies and on shortbread tins. Don’t tell those prospective fliers that there is an ancient standing stone outside, or they may keel over in excitement. Not that the locals even raise a glance driving past. I say driving past, but in many ways this feels like the end of the road, tucked on the southern fringes of remote South Uist, with only St Kilda separating you from the Americas.

The Polochar Inn has gazed out over the Atlantic since the mid-18th century; make sure your room does too. Eleven comfortable bedrooms tempt, including family options. Once a ‘change-house’ (where people could wait for the ferry between South Uist and Barra) , the ‘char’ part of the name refers to that vaulting 1.7m high standing stone (it’s chunkily 1.5m wide too), which has stood here for over 4,000 years. Take a dram – these after all are the waters where the SS Politician (of ‘Whisky Galore’ fame) went down - in the lounge bar with its views of the Sound of Barra, or residents lounge with its Chesterfield. Fish and chips for dinner are served with a smouldering Hebridean sunset. Cosy up afterwards for a few tall tales by the fire in the public bar alongside our spellbound friends from Kansas.